London’s Wigmore Hall Announces 2022/23 Season

Home to the UK’s largest classical music concert program, Wigmore Hall has announced its 2022-23 season will run from September 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023. During this period, thousands of renowned singers, instrumentalists, and ensembles from the UK and abroad will perform in 450 concerts. 

Additionally, over 40 world, UK, and London premieres will be given. For example, one work is Charlotte Bray’s “Ungrievable Lives,” a 13-movement string quartet responding to the migration crisis alongside a new art installation by Caroline Burraway. According to The Guardian, it is the first time Wigmore Hall is showcasing an art installation with a specially written composition.

Composers-in-focus for the premieres will include Cassandra Miller, Lera Auerbach, Gerald Barry, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Further, the piano music of Ferruccio Busoni, Ravel, and Debussy will be part of a series led by pianists Kirill Gerstein, Boris Giltburg, and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.

Leading artists returning to Wigmore Hall include Steven Isserlis, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Alisa Weilerstein, Sir András Schiff, Igor Levit, Daniil Trifonov, Yuja Wang, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Leonidas Kavakos, Midori, Christian Tetzlaff, as well as ensembles Quatuor Ebène, the Hagen Quartet, and Takács Quartet.

The upcoming season will open with the biennial Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition which is open to singers and pianists aged 33 and under. Winners of the event will be followed by renowned singers throughout the season including Ian Bostridge, Dame Sarah Connolly, Alice Coote, Diana Damrau, Iestyn Davies, Christian Gerhaher, Karita Mattila, Christoph Prégardien, and Roderick Williams.

Further bridging associations with The African Concert Series, Wigmore Hall will become the ensemble’s London home as part of a multi-year collaboration across future seasons. A new partnership with the London Contemporary Music Festival has also formed, with events in June 2023 and beyond.

The season’s lunchtime concerts will be broadcast live with BBC Radio 3 and on Wigmore Hall’s website. There are 25,000 tickets at £5 that will be available to those aged under 35, plus thousands of free tickets for under-26s. For the full season program and to attend its events, click here.

“I am heartened that our ‘£5 Tickets for Under 35s’ scheme has seen the highest ever take up since the initiative was launched four years ago, bringing many thousands of new, young concertgoers to live performances this season,” said Wigmore Hall’s artistic and executive director, John Gilhooly.

“In times of great tumult, art and music provide precious moments of reflection, comfort and consolation,” Gilhooly continued. “I hope Wigmore Hall continues to be a haven where audiences can experience the beauty and wisdom of great music from the most diverse possible origins.”